March 8 (Bloomberg) -- Bill Gross, whose Pacific Investment
Management Co. coined the phrase “new normal” in 2009 to
describe an era of subpar growth and a diminishing role for
developed economies, sees the U.S. outlook brightening -- at
least for 2013.

Gross, co-chief investment officer of Pimco, doubled his
forecast for growth in U.S. gross domestic product to 3 percent
for this year, up from the firm’s December forecast of 1.25
percent to 1.75 percent in 2013.

The U.S. is “moving towards a 3 percent real GDP growth
rate” in 2013, in part because of housing, and a nominal growth
rate of 5 percent, Gross said today in an interview with Tom
Keene and Mike McKee on “Bloomberg Surveillance.”

The acceleration in growth comes almost four years after
Pimco unveiled its vision of a “new normal,” a five-year
forecast of lower returns, heightened government regulation,
shrinking U.S. clout in the world economy and bigger role for
developing nations. That outlook, issued in May 2009, proved
prescient as the U.S. economy has grown at an average annual
rate of 0.6 percent over the past four years, according to data
compiled by Bloomberg.

BlackRock Inc.’s Laurence D. Fink; David Tepper, who runs
the $15 billion hedge fund Appaloosa Management LP; and Carlyle
Group LP co-founder David Rubenstein have all said they’re
optimistic on the U.S. economy this year. Fink, CEO of the
world’s largest asset manager, has said he’s bullish because of
the country’s strong banking system, strengthening housing
market and large supply of natural gas.

Housing Recovery

The housing recovery and advancing stock prices are making
it easier for households to tolerate higher payroll taxes and a
logjam in Washington over the nation’s budget. Job growth surged
last month as automakers, builders and retailers pushed the
unemployment rate to a four-year low, defying concerns that
budget battles in Washington would harm the economic expansion.

Employment rose 236,000 after a revised 119,000 gain in
January, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. A
number of 200,000 is consistent with real GDP growth of 3
percent this year, Gross said in the interview. Economists
predict 1.8 percent growth for the U.S. in 2013 for the full
year, according to the median of 77 responses in a Bloomberg
survey.

‘Three Musketeers’

The larger-than-forecast increase in employment won’t
prompt the Federal Reserve to alter the central bank’s stimulus
measures, Gross said. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told Congress
last month that it would take a “substantial improvement” in
employment to end bond buying aimed at keeping long-term rates
low to stimulate the economy.

“Bernanke and Yellen, and Dudley -- the three musketeers -
- have made it obvious that even if unemployment gets to 6.5
percent, they are going to look around,” Gross said during
today’s radio interview.

Pimco, based in Newport Beach, California, is a unit of the
Munich-based insurer Allianz SE. Pimco managed $2 trillion in
assets as of Dec. 31. Gross runs the $288 billion Pimco Total
Return Fund, the biggest bond fund in the world.